Christina & Joan: Like Minds Centuries Apart

In the article, “Female Cross Dressing in Medieval Europe,” Valerie Hotchkiss notes that some women in the Middle Ages, like Christina of Markyate, “dressed as men in order to flee enforced marriages and later led holy lives as women” (CP 55). Although Christina of Markyate simply donned masculine attire temporarily in order to escape, her story is not entirely unlike Joan’s. For one, both Christina and Joan had to appear in court for disputes concerning supposed marriage contracts. In Joan’s testimony about such an occurrence, one can see the confidence we have come to associate with her; she replied to her questioner, “I did not have him summoned; it was he who had me summoned. And there before the judge I swore to speak the truth and in the end he roundly said that I had made the man no promise whatever” (Pernoud 23).  Thus, the court negates any obligation on Joan’s part for this particular marriage, as Joan implies via her direct manner that she had nothing to do with the arrangement. Similarly, Christina of Markyate was forced to oppose the marriage agreement set out by her parents against her will. Investigated by authorities in the church, she is asked, “How can you prove to me that you are doing this for the love of Christ? Perhaps you are rejecting marriage… [for] a more wealthy one;” She stated in reply, “A more wealthy one certainly…for who is richer than Christ?” (The Life 18). In particular, the statement reflects a calculated approach on Christina’s part, one rooted in a seemingly compliant, yet authoritative and subversive tone.

Christina’s answer in itself significantly recalls Joan’s own words during her examination at Poitiers. Like Christina, Joan, rather than being submissive, assertively responds to her interrogators and utilizes her answers to challenge the validity or necessity of the questions in the first place. When asked why she needed men-at-arms to carry out God’s will, she stated “By God the men-at-arms will do battle and God will give victory,” when asked “what language the voice spoke,” she replied “Better than yours” and if she believed in God, “Yes, better than you,” and finally, she simply asked to be taken to Orleans to show God’s wishes, not explain them (Pernoud 55-56). Thus, Joan somewhat gains the upper hand in the conversation, making it less of a question of her own intentions and more of a question of her examiners’ beliefs in the divine at work in their world. Altogether, the similarity between Christina’s and Joan’s replies (even if separated by three hundred years) perhaps demonstrates that women were quite capable of navigating the public sphere to their own advantage, even when lacking established informal or formal authority.

Sources:

Coursepacket. Dr. Wolbrink, 2014.

The Life of Christina Markyate. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008. Print.

Pernoud, Regine. Joan of Arc: By Herself and Her Witnesses. Lanham: Scarborough House, 1982. Print.

Christina of Markyate- Illuminated Manuscript